VIPR Teams: Not new. Still effective.

We
wanted to take this opportunity to set the record straight: TSA has not
expanded the scope of VIPR teams.

Following
the 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people and wounded 1,800 more,
TSA developed the VIPR program to help out law enforcement when needed.
Since then, the teams have been deployed at the request of local, state, and
federal law enforcement to support their efforts and enhance the security
presence during specific alert periods or major high-profile events.

For
example, those who attended a Presidential Inauguration or a Super Bowl may
have seen the VIPR teams at Union Station or a local transportation hub.

TSA's
mission, supported by the United States Federal Air Marshal Service, has been
and remains to protect the nation’s transportation network. VIPR teams
are an important part of TSA’s multi-layered approach
to keeping the traveling public safe.

28 comments:

If the TSA's mission is to protect the nation’s transportation network, why is there nothing beyond airport screening reported in your Week In Review blog post? Isn't there anything worth reporting which encompasses the full scope of your mission? We'd like to know that our money is being used wisely, but the cost/benefit of VIPR and other such programs is a mystery because I can imagine the costs but never get to hear you gloat about the weekly successes.

Or, you could rename the blog post to TSA Airport Screening Week In Review.

It's interesting that your link to "multi-layered approach" says nothing about VIPR nor anything beyond airport operations. Even the graph on that page is "Layers of U.S. Aviation Security" (note the word Aviation and not Transportation)

Less than a decade is still "new" in my book. I also consider the TSA to be in egregious breach of the Constitution. My rights are unalienable-including my right to be secure in my person, papers and etc. When we allow the breach of those rights in order to be "safe" from terrorists-it means the terrorists have won. The very nature of the nation envisioned by our founders is violated by the TSA. The sort of martial law powers claimed by various executive orders and given outright to the WHO are anathema to freedom. We are to be a nation of self reliant, personally responsible individuals who look out for our own protection. Law enforcement is to work with the input of the people doing their duty- not with the input of government spying or unwarranted, unethical and unconstitutional searches and seizures. The very existence of this agency is shameful in my opinion.

"...the teams have been deployed at the request of local, state, and federal law enforcement to support their efforts and enhance the security presence during specific alert periods or major high-profile events."

Somehow or another, I don't think that is quite true. Either TSA tells local law enforcement that its VIPR teams will be present whether they are wanted or not, or TSA just shows up unannounced.

I wonder what it's like to believe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that there are terrorists behind every bush. It must be emotionally draining.

If VIPR teams are so essential to keeping our trains safe, it's fair to say than in the three years TSA existed before they were created, your agency was putting every single train and subway rider in this country at dire risk of injury or death every time they stepped aboard a rail car.

PROVE the effectiveness of VIPR. TSA did not bother to include a cost-benefit assessment of whole body scanners in their NPRM earlier this year, but TSA can serve the public better moving forward by providing a cost-benefit assessment for VIPR. When an agency is spending millions of taxpayer dollars, it is obligated to show taxpayers that the money is being spent on effective programs, and I have yet to see any proof that VIPR is effective.

A) The TSA's first VIPR Teams were created just prior to Christmas 2005, in response to the March 2004 train bombings in Madrid

B) VIPR Teams were created independent of local and national transportation security and law enforcement agencies

C) Significant friction existed when VIPR Teams were first created and were ultimately banned from Amtrak stations until some details were ironed out.

D) VIPR was created to supplement security in a "non-aviation environment", while saying within the TSA's Mission to "Protect the Nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce." The use of VIPR Teams at the Super Bowl and Presidential functions is due to internal human asset shuffling within the Department of Homeland Security , although its presence at sporting events has been questioned.

E) The TSA is not supported by the Federal Air Marshal Service, the FAMS is directly part of the TSA and has been since the 16th of October 2005. FAMS falls under the TSA's Office of Law Enforcement.

This seems like the kind of thing the Founding Fathers risked their lives to prevent. I understand the need for safety, but where do we draw the line? The TSA has already been searching train passengers, stopping vehicles on highways, and searching bus passengers. Are they going to stop bicyclists and pedestrians? Walking is a form of transportation.

I accept that I will be searched at the airport. You better have some serious probable cause or a warrant to search me on the road.

How many terrorists have the VIPR teams caught versus people caught for things unrelated to transportation security, such as drug possession or outstanding warrants? It seems like this is a great way to conduct warrantless searches, which is prohibited by the 4th Amendment.

To the person who said VIPR's and TSO 's are not LEO's you may be wrong. Federal Air Marshalls make up these teams and they are LEO's and they are armed. I fail to see how any LEO can make a stop without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.

According to all I've read, VIPR team searches are illegal. The legality of administrative searches that appear to violate the 4th Amendment rests tenuously on two 9th Circuit Court cases, US v Davis and US v Pulido-Baquerizo. BOTH of these rulings pertain only to travelers in an airport environment. How do you transfer these court rulings OUTSIDE of an airport? The rulings only apply to the airport and ONLY as you cross the threshold into the "secure" area by means of a TSA check point. These court rulings do not include other mass transit centers. In fact, the legal wording in both these cases are for travelers seeking to fly. The wording in these rulings specifically includes the words “airport” and “fly.”

I have to say that the TSA's new expedited lines are wonderrful! Thank you for finally limiting the amount of clothing you have to remove, letting your laptop stay in the carrier, leave liquids bag in my suitcase, and keep shoes on! It has made it so much more slick and gets you through the line so quickly.

Oh, and for those that don't know the "rules of flying", isn't that what blogs like this, Google, travel agents, and even telephones are used for? Sorry, no excuse. When I have had questions, as I did tonight, even though I fly at least monthly, there are still some items I have questions on, such as the one I was trying to find tonight: Can I pack a can of spray paint in my checked luggage? I am guessing so, as it didn't specify contents, just aerosols, so I should be fine.